We take food safety very seriously. We have a set of guidelines for running a safe and professional Community Fridge which have been developed with consultation with Hubbub, the Foods Standards Agency, and Environmental Health Officers.
We have a 5* Hygiene rating and are registered as a food business in Littlehampton and Horsham.
We do not accept foods past their ‘use by’ dates, but we do have certain foods past their ‘best before’ dates, if the food is still in good condition.
We encourage all of our volunteers have a Food Hygiene Level 1 or 2 certificate.
“Use by”
A use-by date on food is about safety. You can eat food until and on the use-by date but not after. You will see use-by dates on food that goes off quickly, such as meat products or ready-to-eat salads.
For the use-by date to be a valid guide, you must carefully follow storage instructions e.g. refrigerate after opening etc.
A lot of foods, including meat and ready meals, can be frozen before the use-by date. It is illegal to give away food passed its “use by” date.
Best before dates
The best before date is about quality. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best.
Even best before date foods should be inspected to ensure they are not mouldy etc especially now that some supermarkets are removing best before dates from fruit and veg.
The best before date will only be accurate if the food is stored according to the instructions on the packaging.
We have a list, prepared by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), that recommends how long different foods can be kept, so we can make sure that all the food that reaches you is in great condition.
Allergens and Natasha’s law
There are 14 known allergens: gluten, milk, egg, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, celery, molluscs, crustacean, lupins, sulphites, soya, sesame and mustard.
Almost all packaged food must have a full ingredients list including allergens which must be highlighted.
Since Natasha’s Law this includes any food that we give away that we, or our donors, have packed ourselves in CLOSED packaging e.g. pastries baked by supermarkets.
Food – such as pastries – can be given away loose as long as they are hygienically handled and as long as we highlight the allergens they may contain.